Button-loop for overalls.



A. E. PLOWMAN. BUTTON LOOP FOR OVERALLS.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 3, 1909.

Patented July 26, 1910.

llllllll llll UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ALBERT E. PLOWMAN, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR TO SCOVILL MANUFACTURINGCOMPANY, OF WATERBURY, CONNECTICUT, A. CORPORATION OF CONNECTICUT.

BUTTON-LOOP FOR OVERALLS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed July 3, 1909.

Patented July 26, 1910.

Serial No. 505,893.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALBERT E. PLOWMAN, a citizen of the United States,residing at New York, in the county of New York and State of New York,have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Button- Loops forOveralls, of which the following is a full, clear, and exactdescription.

Overalls are commonly made with suspender straps permanently orotherwise attached at the back, and adapted to be brought over thewearers shoulders and cletachably fastened in front to buttons fixed tothe bib or other front portion of the garment. Metal loops, usually ofwire, are commonly used to efiect this detachable fastening, but theyare apt to become detached from the buttons owing to the movements ofthe wearers body as the wearer changes position when at work. Most ofthese loops have engaged the button by a spring action, but this isinsufficient to prevent accidental disconnection. Some attempts havebeen made to provide a loop to meet such contingencies, and thisinvention has this object in view.

The invention consists of a loop, having a swinging button-engagingelement, connected to but ofiset from the body of the loop in such waythat the button-engaging element has to be turned practically atrightangles to the body of the loop in order to engage with and bedisengaged from the button. The parts of the loop are rigid, as opposedto resilient, and dependence is placed upon obstructive parts, ratherthan springy parts, to hold the loop in engagement with the button, allas I will proceed now more particularly to set forth and finally claim.

In the accompanying drawings, illustrating the invention, in the'severalfigures of which like parts are similarly designated, Figure l is afront elevation showing enough of a bibbed overall to illustrate theconstruction and operation of the improvement, the loop at the observersleft-hand side being in normal engagement with the adjacent button, andthe loop at the observers righthand side showing the obstructivecharacter of the loop with relation to its adjacent button. Fig. 2 is afront elevation, and Fig. 3 is a side elevation, on a larger scale, ofthe loop detached. Fig. 4: is a side elevation, showing by full anddotted lines respectively the normal engagement of the loop with abutton and the operation of engaging or disengaging a button. Fig. 5 isa top plan view, with the button-engaging element turned out.

The part 1 may be taken to represent the bib or other front part of apair of overalls or any other garment to be supported by suspenders,having the buttons 2 attached thereto. The suspender ends arerepresented at 3, and they terminate in loops 4, adj ustably secured byslides 5 of an approved construction. In these loops 4 are secured thebody portions 6 of the button-loops of this invention, and since bothbutton-loops are alike, a description of one applies to both.

The button-loop may be made of wire, and its body has an eye 7 to engagethe suspender end loop; the rigid neck 8 formed by a parallelarrangement of the wire parts in close relation, to afford a mutualsupport, and a button entrance loop comprising the outwardly extendedends 9 formed by an open parallel arrangement of the wire ends, whichends are bent back toward the center of the body and terminate in eyes10 standing off from said ends, or offset horizontally or nearly so, orat right angles to the said ends and separated sufl'lciently to form acontracted passage for the button shank. In these eyes is hinged thebutton-engaging element 11, made of wire, in loop form, and capable ofswinging in said eyes 10. The offsetting of the eyes throws thebutton-engaging loop and consequently the button -head away from orforward of the button entrance and exit space 12 to prevent the upperedge of the button from entering the entrance loop by a tilting movementand thus avoid accidental upward escape of the button during themovements of the wearer. The offset eyes, therefore, in a word, aidefiectually in preventing the escape of the button, excepting when thebutton-engaging loop is turned up into the dotted line position, Fig.4:. All of these wire parts are rigid, or without resilience, and theyare of such dimensions that the button head cannot escape from the loopin the direction of the axis of its shank. In other words, the openingsin the buttonengaging element 11 and the button entrance loop arenarrower than the diameter of the button head, and will not pass oversuch button head axially when the button is in engagement with the loopand substantially parallel therewith.

The spacing of the Suspender-engaging eye at a distance from the buttonentrance loop lessens the tendency of the upper portion of the device totilt outward and downward under the weight of the overalls, which aresuspended from the offset button-engaging element, and also preventsthebutton entrance loop of the upper portion from turning at a rightangle to the button engaging element when the suspender straps areslightly slackened. By having the elongated rigid neck between theSuspender-engaging eye and button entrance loop of the upper portion ofthe device, the suspender straps must be slackened much more inorder toallow the button entrance loop to tilt at a right angle and thus becomeaccidentally disengaged from the button, than would be the case if thesuspender strap were engaged directly with the bar which forms the upperboundar of the button entrance loop.

In orc er to apply the loop to or remove it from a button, itsbutton-engaging element 11 must be turned outwardly on its hinges,substantially at right angles to the body of the loop, as indicated indotted lines Fig. 4, and as shown in Fig. 5, and the button carmay beslipped into or out from the buttonengaging element edgewise through theopen spaces 12 and 13 in the button entrance loop. So long as thebutton-engaging element 11 hangs down, the eyes 10 and neck 8 obstructthe entrance and escape of the button, as

illustrated in Fig. 1, right-hand side, and it is only by swinging theelement 11 outwardly, as in dotted lines Fig. 4, or as in Fig. 5, thatthe loop can be engaged with and disengaged from the button. Obviouslysuch a movement of the element is practically impossible in ordinaryuse, and hence there is no liability of the loops becoming accidentallydetached from the buttons.

In the common form of wire loops, :1 number of sizes of thebutton-engaging part is required to adapt the loops to buttons ofvarious makes; for the common overall buttons are of metal, and theirshanks are of a wide range of dimensions, and especially diameter, toaccommodate the difierent kinds of metal and other fasteners. By myconstruction, a single size loop is applicable to practically all of themore common and usual buttons. The loop manufacturer, therefore, hasvery decided economical and trade advantages in a loop of this sort.

Notwithstanding the title herein and in the claims hereof, it is to beunderstood that the use of the invention is not limited to overalls.

hat I claim is 1. A button-loop for overalls, comprising a rigid,non-resilient body portion, having a suspender-engaging loop, and anindependent button entrance loop transversely nary rower than thediameter of the button-head andhaving a contracted button shank passa eand provided with eyes at said passage of set substantially at rightangles, and a neck connecting said loops, and a rigid nonresilientbutton-engaging element hinged in said ofi'set eyes, whereby the buttonmay be engaged and disengaged only through the button entrance loop andwhen the buttonhead is presented thereto edgewise. ried along with it,so that the button head i 2. A button-loop for overalls, constructed ofwire and comprising a body portion having a loop to engage the suspenderend, a rigid neck formed by a parallel arrangement of the wire in closerelation, and a button entrance loop comprising outwardly eXtended endsformed by an open parallel arrangeinent ofthe wire ends, said ends beingbent back toward the center of the body and terminating in eyes standingoff from said ends substantially at right angles to the body andseparated to form a contracted button-shank passage, and a buttonengaging element hinged to and adapted to swing in said eyes.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 1st day of July A.D. 1909.

ALBERT E. PLOWMAN.

Witnessesz PERCY WARNER, GEO. E. TOMPKINS.

